One of the most surprising hits of the last generation was Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. You wouldn’t think that turning a tower defense game into a third person shooter would work but that’s exactly what happened and people loved it. It was no surprise that a sequel would be released to capitalize on that popularity. I got some hands on time with Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 at a recent EA event and had a ton of fun doing it.
In the match I played, I was paired up with three others and we had to defend our location from an invasion of plants. In this game, zombies have managed to take over Suburbia and the plants have gone on the offensive. I actually got to play as Captain Deadbeard, a zombie pirate who is one of the new characters in the game. This character had a shotgun for close quarter battles, and a sniper rifle for long range attacks. Everyone on our party had weapons which were unique but complimented the entire group.
We had to defend our position against five waves of plants; each wave becoming more challenging than the last. I tried to position myself as high as possible so I could make good use of my sniper rifle. I usually like to take the front lines in games like this but considering I hobbled everywhere due to my peg leg, I felt it best to stay away from the thick of it and pick off enemies from afar. If they got too close for comfort I’d just take out my shotgun and shoot them right in their flowery faces.
During the plant onslaught, we had to fortify our defenses by building turrets and walls to keep the plants at bay. This is similar to how the plants defended against the zombies in the previous game. This is where I had to use my close range attacks the most since there were so many plants crawling around. The final wave brought out some huge tree monsters that the entire team had to work to defeat since they were very powerful and took a ton of damage. The match ended with us running toward a teleportation device of some sort. Well… I didn’t run due to my peg leg, but still, we made it out with only one second left to spare.
The game will have a host of new features such as six new plant and zombie classes, Graveyard Ops, which is a zombie version of Garden Ops, and Herbal Assault, which will support up to 24 players. Returning characters will get new abilities, as will the new classes.
An internet connection was required for the original game but that will no longer be the case. Every single mode in this game can be played solo. Couch co-op will be featured in the game, as well as private servers for you and your friends to play in. There is also a new mode called Backyard Battleground which will be a hub for players to connect with each other. All of this will happen on 12 new maps which include a Time Travel Theme Park and Moon Base Z.
Fans of the original game will absolutely love Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. Even guys like me who only played a few hours of the original will find something to love here. I had a blast playing this for a few minutes so I can imagine how cool it will be to get in there and shoot stuff with my friends for hours. I expect this game to be very popular when it is released in the Spring of 2016.
